Estonia/ 5.1 General legislation  

5.1.3 Allocation of public funds

Public funds for culture are allocated during the general decision-making processes which define state and municipal budgets (see also chapter 3.1 and chapter 3.2). The Ministry of Culture prepares a budget proposal, which includes the expenses of different institutions and programmes administered by the Ministry. The budget proposal is presented by the Minister of Culture to the Government Cabinet and will, after political negotiations, be presented to the Parliament as a part of the Bill on the State Budget. In the Parliament, the Cultural Committee, political factions or individual MPs may suggest changes. After approval of the budget, the specified budget proposals of individual institutions will be approved by the Minister of Culture, in accordance with the sums defined by the state budget. Regarding the administration of grant programmes for activities outside state institutions, the Ministry has formed specific committees, which may include experts from outside the Ministry. In addition to these general principles of administering the cultural budget, legislation on alcohol, tobacco and gambling taxes, and excise duties earmarks a fixed percentage of this income for two governmental arm's length bodies, the Council of Gambling Taxes and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. These two bodies grant money for cultural purposes, the former one also for other social purposes (see also  chapter 8.1.1 and  chapter 8.1.3).

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